The break up of AT&T in 1984 led to a seismic shift in telecom policy and regulatory thinking worldwide and also created the conditions for the Internet boom. New Zealand is a small country quite unlike the US, but it has taken an unprecedented step that has the potential of changing policy and regulatory thinking again. As the excerpt below says, the split is on the lines of the BT reorganization in the UK. That is true. But the key difference is that BT reorganized voluntarily and NZ Telecom, not.
If I were managing an incumbent telco, claiming dominance in various markets and providing poor broadband service, the NZ decision will give me nightmares; but more than that, it will cause me to seriously consider BT…
Tags: AT&T, British Telecom, Broadband, broadband Internet, BT Group, David Cunliffe, faster and cheaper Internet services, Internet boom, Internet Service Providers, Internet speed, New Zealand, New Zealand government, NZ Telecom, Paul Reynolds, retail, retail arm, United Kingdom, United States.
According to a Maldives online news publication, always on Internet is now available in 27 more islands.
News In Brief 5 August 2007
Dhiraagu has extended its internet service to twenty seven additional islands, meaning 70% of Maldivians can now access broadband internet. Dhiraagu, which was given permission to extend internet coverage to the atolls in August 2006, now provides a service to forty two islands.
The company plans to extend its network to cover all islands with more than nine hundred residents.
Is it possible for a knowledgeable person to tell us what “broadband internet” means in the Maldives? Is there a 2MB offering? Or is it 256 kbps? Difference in up and down speeds? At what price?
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Former Chair of the FCC, Bill Kennard, calls for a broad national debate on how get more broadband connections, especially in rural America. One of his two recommendations is for the adoption of “reverse auctions” or least-cost subsidy auctions for the disbursement of US universal service funds. Another case of policy innovations in the developing world seeping back into the developed. See LIRNEasia’s extensive work on this subject, based on the Indian universal service fund and the least-cost subsidy auction in Nepal.
Spreading the Broadband Revolution - New York Times
“Any serious discussion of the future of the Internet should start with a basic fact: broadband is transforming every facet of communications, from entertainment and telephone services to delivery of vital services like health care. But this also…
Tags: America, Bill Kennard, Broadband, broadband Internet, Broadband Revolution - New York Times, Federal Communications Commission, narrowband dial-up Internet, Nepal, Slovenia, telephone services, United States.
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